Most liquid crystal display (LCD) panels use backlighting to provide a bright image to the viewer. Backlighting is typically provided by diffusing white light from a fluorescent light source or several light emitting diode (LED) sources. To provide evenly distributed backlighting, LCD panels have a diffusion panel that receives the light along one edge of the panel and diffuses the light throughout the face of the diffusion panel. The white light may be directly generated by the fluorescent light source or the LEDs. However, colored LEDs emitting such colors as red, green, and blue (RGB) are also used in some applications. Where colored LEDs are used, the different colors are mixed to create the white light.
In applications that use LEDs, several LEDs typically are mounted on a single substrate. The LEDs and substrate are referred to as an LED device. Each LED device has reflector walls and sidewalls which surround the LEDs. Multiple LED devices are lined up along the edge of the diffusion panel. However, the sidewalls of the LED devices create a significant separation distance between the LEDs of adjacent LED devices. This separation due to the sidewalls creates dark spots on the diffusion panel where the light transmitted from the LEDs does not overlap. These dark spots are noticeable to a viewer because the diffusion panel does not provide evenly distributed backlighting. Although the LED devices may be moved farther away from the diffusion panel to allow the light to spread out more before transmitting into the diffusion panel, such increased distance would increase the cost of manufacturing and require larger package dimensions.
In view of this, what is needed is a light distribution solution to overcome the problems of dark spots on the diffusion panel.